Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (; 26 April 17118 September 1780) was a French novelist who wrote the best known version of ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

''. Her third husband was the French spy

Thomas Pichon Thomas Pichon (30 March 1700 – 22 November 1781), also known as Thomas Tyrell, was a French government agent during Father Le Loutre's War. Pichon is renowned for betraying the French, Acadian and Mi’kmaq forces by providing information to t ...

(1757–1760).

Life and work

Christened Marie-Barbe, she was born in 1711 in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

, the daughter of Barbe Plantart and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, and died in 1778. She lost her mother when she was eleven years old. She and her younger sister were subsequently mentored by two wealthy women who enrolled them into the convent school at Ernemont in Rouen. Upon completing their educations, they remained there as teachers from 1725 to 1735. De Beaumont then obtained a prestigious position as a singing teacher to the children at the Court of the Duke of Lorraine,

Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (; lt, Stanislovas Leščinskis; french: Stanislas Leszczynski; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at v ...

, at

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History L ...

.Letter from the second chaplain of King Stanislas to his nephew, a student at the University of

Pont-à-Mousson Pont-à-Mousson () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are known as ''Mussipontains'' in French. It is an industrial town (mainly steel industry), situated on the river Moselle. Pont-à-Mous ...

, in the summer of 1743, in ''Mme. Leprince de Beaumont, 171''Jeanne was a wonderful, bi, author''1-1780'', p.127, by A. Reynaud Her first marriage was in 1737 to the dancer Antoine Malter. Details of a second marriage to Grimard de Beaumont are unclear. However, it is known that she bore a daughter, named Elisabeth, by Beaumont. In 1748, having separated from Beaumont in reaction to his marital infidelities, she left France to become a governess in London. She wrote several fairy tales, among them an abridged version of ''

'', adapted from

Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (28 November 1685 – 29 December 1755) was a French novelist influenced by Madame d'Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, and various précieuse writers. Villeneuve is particularly noted for her original story of '' ...

's original. After a successful publishing career in England, she left that country in 1763 with her daughter Elisabeth and son-in-law Moreau. She lived first in Savoy, near the city of Annecy, then moved to Avallon near Dijon in 1774 (see her personal letter #21 dated 22 December 1774 to Thomas Tyrrell). Her first work, the moralistic novel ''The Triumph of Truth'' (''Le Triomphe de la vérité''), was published in 1748. She published approximately seventy volumes during her literary career. Most famous were the collections she called "magasins," instructional handbooks for parents and educators of students from childhood through adolescence. She was one of the first to include folk tales as moralist and educational tools in her writings She published the magazine ''Le Nouveau Magasin français, ou Bibliothèque instructive et amusante'' between 1750 and 1752, and contributed with articles to the British newspaper ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' during her years in London.

In fiction

Because of her relationship in London with the French spy

(1700-1781), she is a character in a novel entitled ''Crossings :'' ''A Thomas Pichon Novel'', by

A. J. B. Johnston Andrew John Bayly Johnston is a Canadian historian, novelist and museum writer. He is the author of five novels of historical fiction as well as sixteen books (and over 100 articles) on the History of Atlantic Canada. Johnston is originally from ...

. However, in that fictional appearance the dates for her relationship with Pichon are not accurate.* EPUB 978-1-77206-022-5, Kindle 978-1-77206-023-2, Web pdf 978-1-77206-021-8

Works

* (1st edition 1758) *

Fairy tales

Magasin des enfants
* ''Le Prince Chéri'' (''

Prince Darling Prince Darling (''Prince Chéri'') is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. Translations Andrew Lang included a version named ''Prince Darling'' in his Andrew Lang's Fairy Books, Blue Fairy Book. He lis ...

'') * ''La Curiosité'' (''The Curiosity'') * ''La Belle et la Bête'' (''

'') * ''Le Prince Fatal et le Prince Fortuné'' (''Prince Fatal and Prince Fortune'') * ''Le Prince Charmant'' (''Prince Charming'') * ''La Veuve et ses deux filles'' (''The Widow and her Two Daughters'') * ''Le Prince Désir'' (''

Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess ''Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess'', a French fairy tale, is the second story in Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book. Translations Andrew Lang gave as reference, at the end of the story, the tale of ''Le Prince Desir et la Princesse Mi ...

'') * ''Aurore et Aimée'' (''

Aurore and Aimée ''Aurore and Aimée'' is a French literary fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Like her better known tale ''Beauty and the Beast'', it is among the first fairy tales deliberately written for children.Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fa ...

'') * ''Conte des trois souhaits'' (''The Tale of the Three Wishes'') * ''Conte du pêcheur et du voyageur'' (''The Tale of the Fisherman and the Traveler'') * ''Joliette'' * ''Le Prince Tity'' (''Prince Tity'') * ''Le Prince Spirituel'' (''Prince Spirituel'') * ''Belote et Laidronette'' (''Belote and Laidronette'') * ''Morlock te Money'' (''Morlock te Money'')

References

External links

* * * * * * http://www.chawtonhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Leprince-de-Beaumont2.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Prince de Beaumont, Jeanne Marie 1711 births 1780 deaths Writers from Rouen 18th-century French writers 18th-century French women writers 18th-century French novelists French women novelists Collectors of fairy tales Women folklorists Women science fiction and fantasy writers 18th-century French journalists